Growing Pains
by Sakiku
Summary: What kind of puberty does a demi-Saiyan have? Surely not an easy one. And what does a half-robot, half woman live for? NOT a G18 romance. WARNINGS: very dark, physical violence, and implicit rape *Finally COMPLETE*
1. Chapter 1

He was smirking viciously at the figure prone in front of him

A/N: 

You have to thank Kyla Eide for this story because she asked me to write a fanfiction about C18. As I have never read #18-fanfics before, you have to forgive me for using any clichés because I don't know what the clichés are. I have been told that all the circuitry and the chips of #18 are pretty much standard, but as this kind of behavior is quite essential to my #18, I did not change it. Anyways, enjoy it!

**Chapter 1**

He was smirking viciously at the figure lying prone in front of him. Never had he felt so full of energy, power waiting to burst forth into the body of the monster he had come to kill. Now the monster wouldn't be able to hurt anybody anymore; the damage he had dealt it made sure of that.

"Not as high and mighty anymore, are you?" he taunted. An angry, painful hiss answered, making the smirk drop from his face. "What? You haven't had enough yet?"

Raising a hand, he gathered a tiny dot of heavily concentrated ki on his index finger. Pointing towards the figure, the dot extended into a beam so narrow it could barely be seen. With this beam, he gradually sizzled a neat, penny-sized hole into the monster's arm as he was slowly forcing his ki into the green flesh. The hissing increased, the figure writhing and whining from pain until he stopped the energy. The tissue around the injury had been charred black, leaving a painful taste of what he was able to do. But no, he was not finished, not by far. The monster had caused him too much pain to let it get away now. It would pay for all it had done to him and to his family.

A few calculated hits to chest and sides of the monster broke several ribs, but he knew that the monster's healing abilities could easily mend those injuries within seconds, so he broke them over and over again. Other bones weren't safe from him, either, but there was something in the wet, gurgling scream when ribs punctured lungs that excited him. Some time later, he grew tired of playing with his enemy like that and he gathered a considerable amount of ki in his hands, planning on incinerating the hated foe.

Suddenly, a devilish idea sprang from his mind and he stopped the glowing sphere from doing any more damage than burning the figure severely. It would be much more cruel if he let the monster live.

Crouching low next to the figure, he whispered hatefully into its ear. "Never ever dare to cross me or my family again. The next time, you are dead before you can count to three. Now run as fast as you can."

Smirking, Gohan watched Cell stagger away slowly. For some time, he was content with relishing in the painful movements, but then his anger rose once again. With an absent-minded gesture, he threw a handful of ki-blasts after the figure and gleefully admired the fireworks he had made of the insect.

--

Shuddering, Gohan woke up. That evil cackle he had just been laughing in the dream was still fresh on his lips and in his ears, and the anger and the hate that had been rolling around inside him weren't forgotten yet.

Taking a few calming breaths, he closed his eyes to force all those terrible feelings away. It wasn't the first time he'd had dreams like that, but they had become more and more frequent the past few weeks. He realized that he was gradually starting to carry all those negative emotions into his waking hours as well, but so far, he'd only let them out while training alone in the woods, and one time with Piccolo. However; it was getting harder and harder not to snap at everybody, especially when the anger he had forcibly locked away in the morning had found a reason to rise and pound behind his eyes, demanding from him to _bite/tear/destroy_ something.

"Gohan! Breakfast!" resounded his mother's voice from downstairs, breaking him out of his light meditation. Ah, that was what had woken him, the aroma of steaming food wafting through the house. Immediately he felt better, and his mouth watered in anticipation of a grand breakfast. Nothing could make a Saiyan happy as quickly as the thought of eating. And, according to Vegeta, the thought of a good fight, but that sounded a little bit too good at the moment for Gohan's taste. So he immediately forced his mind back to the food, drooling in anticipation.

"Coming," he called, and like all Saiyans he didn't waste any time hurrying into the kitchen where his mother was already waiting with a scowl on her face. Uh, oh, what had he done wrong now?

"Gohan, how often do I have to tell you that you shouldn't shout when your brother is still sleeping!"

Oh, yeah, right, as if she hadn't just hollered herself so loud that the birds a mile away could have heard it. He didn't know what made him think that sarcastically, and with a last-ditch-effort, he tried to make his instinctive retort that had almost slipped his mouth less scathing.

"Only if you tone it down, too!" Ok, scratch that, now he was in for an ear-full.

Shocked, Chichi looked at her son. Never had he mouthed back to her in that manner; although after Goku's death, he had become increasingly rebellious. But she hoped that it was one of those phases all growing boys went through. Nonetheless, those teenage antics had better be corrected as soon as possible. "You listen here now, Mister. This is no way to talk to your mother! You know as well as I do that Goten's sleeping upstairs in the room right next to you, so your shouting will wake him up a lot sooner than my shouting!"

"Yeah, right, with my Saiyan ears, I go practically deaf every time you start your screeching."

A gasp slipped over Chichi's lips at Gohan's attitude. That was inexcusable. How had she not noticed that her son harbored such a foul mouth? This was something she expected from that uneducated, violent, Saiyan brute of a prince, but not from her baby. She had taught him better! How Bulma could stand that arrogant, over-confident jerk was beyond her. And now her Gohan was obviously imitating that man? She didn't think so. "You are grounded! No training for the next two weeks, and next time, think about it before talking to me in that voice!"

"You can't do that," Gohan shouted indignantly.

"Oh yes, I can. And if you keep that up, it will be a lot more than just two weeks!"

He was visibly angry now, and she could feel his power thrumming through the room. Never before had he been that disobedient, talking back to her with words that were only a step away from the gutter-language that Saiyan prince apparently preferred. She should have never let him go fight that menace Cell; her sweet baby had changed so much, and all were bad changes. He had become ill-tempered, his manners had practically vanished, and he was disrespectful towards his own mother.

She didn't hesitate in telling him so, demanding he immediately get his act together _or else_. No apology came; he was only standing there completely rigid, fists clenched at his sides. Crossing her arms in front of her, she impatiently tapped a foot on the floor, scolding her ungrateful offspring with a scathing glare.

He was looking everywhere but her, and she could see the muscles in his jaw working as he gritted his teeth. He seemed to get angrier by the second, and slowly, his ki was responding. She could feel his power growing, rising in ways she had never felt before. Strange prickles of thrumming energy were dancing over her skin, as if she was standing right next to a charged coil that operated on high voltage.

Ok, now the fun was over. Frowning, she hissed: "If you don't power down immediately, there will be no breakfast before you go to your room to study."

Apparently that had been the wrong thing to say because all of a sudden, his hair burst into golden flames, and his eyes turned a vacant green. With all the static crackling in the room, she felt the fine hairs all over her body stand up, and the air was almost humming with electricity.

The days before the Cell games, her baby had constantly been in that state, but back then, it had only felt as if he had dyed his hair and had worn contacts. Uncouth, but what else could she expect when her well-mannered baby spent a year alone with that loutish husband of hers?

Now however, she felt for the first time the unimaginable power that this transformation allowed her little boy, and for the first time, she was almost scared. It was a force that could not be contained within this room, shaking the windows, rattling the door with his mere presence.

Was this the power that her Goku had had, too? She had known that they all were ridiculously strong; heck, Goku had already been stronger than her when they had married, and back then, he had had the strength of an ant compared to the powers assembled on the planet today. But she had never before felt their kis to that extent, so much that it beat viciously against her skin, smothering her spirit beneath its sparking, rolling waves of sheer power.

Looking into her boy's eyes, sudden knowledge seeped into her every pore. If Gohan wanted to, he could crush her with no more exertion than she used for swatting a fly, and at the moment, he was very close to loosing control. A small thought stole itself into her brain: What had become of her little, innocent boy?

All of a sudden, the menace vanished out of his stance, and he looked almost afraid. Not saying a word, he swirled around and burst out of the door faster than her eyes could perceive. The only thing she saw was a yellow strike of lightening jumping high into the sky, followed by the rush of displaced air.

Quickly recovering and gathering her wits around her, she hurried outside after him and shouted into the dawning sky. "Come back here right now! GOHAN!"

But probably, he was too far away already. Shaking her head, she went inside again. After he had some time to cool off, he would come home again, and then they would have to talk. A serious talk.

--

Heart pounding in his chest, Gohan fled his home as fast as possible. What had he almost done? He had been ready to treat his mother like an enemy just because she had told him not to shout. Yes, he had been angry, he didn't know why, but that was no excuse. Somebody with his power also held responsibility, and he couldn't go around threatening everybody just because they said something he didn't like or because he was plain angry. But he'd never had such a problem controlling his emotions before, so why now? Could it be part of his Saiyan heritage?

No matter what, he would have to talk to Bulma and Vegeta soon in case he really lost it. There was nobody else around who could really measure up to Gohan's strength in his normal SSJ-form, and they had to know that they'd perhaps have to forcibly stop him. Especially if he became angry enough to ascend to the second level. Well, Vegeta couldn't really measure up to his strength, but the Saiyan prince had the best chance of trying as he was the strongest after him. And Vegeta would perhaps also have an explanation for his unexpected mood swings and the anger that had been a constant during the last few weeks and months.

Sighing, Gohan turned towards the second most powerful ki-force on the planet and headed into its direction. Of course, Vegeta was training again, nothing new there. And he was going to be quite angry when Gohan disturbed him, but that couldn't be helped. There never was a good time for visiting the prince whose people consisted of no more than three halfbreeds and himself.

--

„No idea. "

Gohan sputtered. First, he had been forced to spar with Vegeta for most of the day to even make him consider giving out some information, and then, there was none. "B-but, Vegeta, you're a Saiyan! You have to know what's wrong with me!"

Slamming a fist into the wall of the gravity room, Vegeta vented some anger. "Quiet, brat! If you were a Saiyan I'd know, but you aren't one! It is a miracle that you were born at all, that you have no deformities and that you've been able to lead a normal life so far! You know what percentage of the Saiyan genome is identical to the human one? 90, when those monkeys on this mudball are to 98 identical, and what do you think an earthling mating with an ape would produce? A fully functional human? A fully functional monkey?"

Shocked, Gohan stared at Vegeta and the anger that was visible pouring off the Saiyan in brilliantly red ki-waves. How did Vegeta know so much about genetics and the animal population of this planet? Hurt, Gohan shot back. "Then what about Trunks and Goten? Are you saying you deliberately let them be born although you knew better, huh?"

Vegeta closed his eyes, gritting his teeth, a look of intense pain flashing over his face. No, if he had known, he would never have… But Kakarott's spawn had been born a long time before he had even heard of this pathetic excuse for a planet, and the brat had seemed to be more of a Saiyan than his sorry father, which didn't mean a lot. Only during the last few months after Cell he had felt some strange vibes coming from the boy, and he had asked his mate to look for the reason. Of course, the woman had used that opportunity to humiliate him, taunting him about the Saiyan prince having to turn to a lowly earthling for information, but as much as he loathed it, it was his duty to care for his people. Even if there were only three of them left, and none of them full Saiya-jin.

Finally, he spat out: "That's what that blasted woman told me, two weeks ago. Do you think that I want my heir to be genetically defective?"

Oh, so that was that arrogant prince's answer? That he regretted having fathered Trunks? Still hurt, angry with Vegeta and the world in general, Gohan blasted off with the words: "Great help, thank you very much. I just hope and pray that you don't tell that to your son when he asks."

A spurt of energy brought Gohan far away from West City and Capsule Corps within seconds, into some uninhabited area covered by meadows and woods as far as the eye could reach. There, he let himself drift on the clouds, staring into the sky, trying to suppress the tears that were rising in his eyes.

It was scary to be all alone, nobody knowing what was wrong with him. He had those strange moments when anger rose in his throat gradually until it almost strangled him, and Piccolo had told him that he had even tried to attack his mentor once. Just a few hours ago, he had almost blown up the house with his mother and brother still in there. He could still see the look of fear etched onto her face, a thing he never wanted to see again. His mother, usually fearless to a fault, almost cowering behind the sofa, staring at him like a rabbit faced by a fox.

"Go away."

Startled, Gohan looked around. Where had that voice come from? He had taken care that nobody was in close vicinity because he just wanted to be alone. Had his sensing abilities dulled that much that he overlooked regular human ki signatures?

Stretching his senses to their limits, he finally spotted the origin of the voice. No wonder he hadn't sensed anything. Warily, he floated deeper, looking at the android woman lying on her back in the grass, staring sightlessly up into the sky. Not quite in a battle-stance, he was nonetheless ready to react should she make any threatening moves. He touched down next to her, looking silently at her spread form that still hadn't moved.

"I said go away."

She still didn't look at him, pointedly ignoring him, but her words hadn't sounded that cold. There was no malice, no anger behind her voice, more like resignation. Why had she spoken at all if she didn't want him to be here? He would have never seen her if she had kept quiet, and he couldn't sense any life-force within her. Perhaps that was her roundabout way of asking for conversation. When no other words or actions came forth though, he slowly let go of his guard and flopped down onto the grass a little ways off. Together, they silently stared into the sky, watching the sun turning redder as it sunk to meet the horizon, each thinking their own thoughts.

After the red sky had slowly faded into a purple blue, Gohan voiced the question that had been bothering him ever since he had seen her lying in the field. "Why are you here?"

For a long time there came no response, but just when his expectations had died, her voice broke the silence. "Am I alive?"

Frowning, he wondered about what had brought those thoughts on. "Of course you are."

"Even though I am just a robot?"

The question had slipped her mouth before she could stop it, and now she was waiting. Her logic circuits told her that the question was negligible, that it was not important, but some part of her that she associated with the few bits of flesh and blood incorporated into her machine body thought it was crucial.

The machine part of hers hungered for fulfilling her programming. The order to kill all Saiyans beat at her core motivation from all directions, urging her to get up and engage the boy in a fight. She ignored those code lines though, trying to anticipate the boy's actions. However, the young Saiya-jin didn't say anything, and only his presence that was picked up by her sensors told her that he was still there. Perhaps he didn't want to talk.

"You were human once." His voice startled her. The probability of obtaining an answer to her question after 2546.3 seconds had passed was negligibly small, but it was not nonexistent. She should have incorporated his inclination for long silences into her calculations.

"Not anymore," she uttered monotonously, speaking nothing but the truth. After everything Dr. Gero had changed within her and her brother, she could hardly call herself human anymore; no human had metal infused into their bones, their nervous system exchanged for circuitry, and chips instead of brains.

The boy didn't let it rest though. "But you are no robot either."

"Why?" she asked, her curiosity, or at least the curiosity her chips simulated, piqued.

He was silent once again, but she could hear him fidget on the grass, subconscious movement of body-parts caused by uncomfortable situations. "Because … you were programmed to destroy all Saiyans, weren't you? What is keeping you from acting on those orders? Only I and perhaps Vegeta now that he has trained are strong enough to keep you away, and even me you could take out by surprising me in my sleep when my ki is low."

For the first time she looked at the boy lying in the grass a few feet away. Her eyes easily compensated for the relative lack of light, another feature Gero had gifted her with. The boy was staring into the darkening sky as if he found something there that was immensely interesting, but following his gaze, she didn't see anything. Why had he told her that? Logic was completely against revealing any weaknesses to somebody wanting to kill him. Didn't he know how her chips were screaming at her to get up and finish his life?

Forcing her eyes away from him, she ground out. "You should go now. Doesn't your mother expect you at home?"

Caused by something that her logic circuits couldn't comprehend, the boy started making strange sounds, his eyes leaking tears that her keen receptors immediately identified as an isotonic saline solution that was produced by two glands at the outer edge of the upper eyelid.

What had caused that reaction? 'Home' and 'Mother' were associated with positive emotions, according to her data banks, whereas tears normally expressed negative ones. And the probability of a foreign body flying into his eyes at exactly that moment was far below any significance level.

Even her finely tuned hearing that was almost on par with a Saiyan's almost didn't catch the whispering that reached through the night. "I … I almost … I almost killed her today …"

She raised an eyebrow, not comprehending the logic behind it. "My brother and I almost killed your group of fighters, too, but I did not perceive any hints that you or the bald monk were afraid of me on that floating palace."

"B-b-but… that's different," sputtered the boy, "you were … " He trailed off.

"I was what?"

Shaking his head, he was looking for words. When he apparently didn't find them, he sighed deeply. "Nothing. Forget that I said anything. You are right, I should go home. Nice to have met you again."

She watched as he rose to his feet and took off into the air. Her circuits screamed at her to go after him, or at least fire a parting blast after him, but she didn't do anything. Not even unfolding her arms from behind her head as she watched him vanish into the sky until her enhanced eyesight couldn't distinguish his form from the blackening background anymore.

The slowly dropping temperatures of the night didn't faze her; her metal body didn't know hypothermia. She didn't move as the stars appeared and the moon wandered across the sky, reviewing her memories of their encounter today. It had given her chips more information about the demi-Saiyan, but somehow, it had also touched the part of her that was flesh and blood. Their conversation had gone far beyond the simple 'Hear and obey my orders or else'-conversations she had had with her creator, and she had to suppress a shudder. Robots were not allowed to feel cold.

--

A/N: Please review! It's always nice to receive an honest opinion!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**A/N:**

Once again thanks to Kylah Eide for being such a good beta-reader.

And thanks to Chibi Tsuki, December Jewel, and DBZ Chick1 for their encouraging reviews. Here comes the next chapter.

**Chapter 2**

Over the next few days, Gohan returned to the field where he had found the android for the first time, and every time she had been there in the exact same spot in the exact same position. They never exchanged more than a few words; the rest of the time, they spent thinking, lost in their own thoughts. But gradually, he discovered that he was developing some kinship with the android-woman, as she was struggling with her heritage as much as he was.

Still, every day, she was in the same position, not moving an inch. She didn't know what she was waiting for. Maybe for her chips to cease bringing her attention to her task of eradicating all Saiyans. Maybe for something else. And maybe for the boy, who seemed to be not as happy as her probability calculations suggested.

As it was, her senses were becoming more and more attuned to his presence, able to pick up increasingly detailed nuances of his physical and emotional state. He was a living organism, and those always were prone to irrational and unpredictable change. But gradually, she began to see patterns in his behavior, those calculations and extrapolations taking enough capacity to deprioritize all other alerts and messages.

That was how she knew that today something was different. The Halfling boy didn't feel right as he came closer to where she was lying in the field. His ki was spiking strangely, as if he was either fighting or loosing control over his energy. Was that one of those incidents he had told her about?

She watched him touch down next to her, putting the food he insisted on bringing every day onto a small rock nearby easily in her reach. But instead of sitting down a few feet away, he kept standing and pacing, as if he had too much energy within his Saiyan body. Which was no wonder, as high and fast as his ki was spiking.

Clenching and unclenching his fists, he was becoming more rigid, his neck muscles becoming more prominent as he gritted his teeth. Then, suddenly, it seemed as if the dam holding him back had burst. "Why are you always lying there, never doing anything?" he growled.

Internally, she raised an eyebrow. The Saiyan Halfling had never talked to her before in that tone of voice. She didn't answer as she didn't know it herself, keeping her eyes to the sky in thought. But that seemed to make him angry.

"Answer me …"

He ground out that sentence and stopped it as if he had choked it off with all of his might. She had almost expected him to add some explicative like 'bitch' or 'wench', but seeing as he never was much around the Saiyan prince, he probably didn't even know those words. Her program that was responsible for annihilating Saiyans didn't quite kick in, but his anger made it harder for her to resist following her orders.

Suddenly, he was in her face, looking down at her menacingly. "Didn't you hear me? I said answer me!"

It was interesting to see how his voice deepened to a hiss at the end, grating on her battle programs like nothing else so far. Still, she didn't fight, even as he extended a flat palm to her chest, charging up some energy. His current conduct was so far outside any normal parameters of his character as to throw off any probabilities. If he hadn't visited her so often over the past few days, she would have immediately switched into defense mode, but all data she had gathered on him spoke of him loathing any form of violence.

So she waited as to what would happen.

A fist slammed into the ground right next to her head, leaving both of them on the bottom of a crater, showering a cloud of dirt and soil onto them.

Looking up at the angry Saiyan, she tried to reduce his current level of aggression by complying with his demand for an answer. "I don't know. There is no logical explanation for my behavior."

"Oh? First, you don't want to answer, and then, you don't know?"

His other hand charged further, and her sensors registered waves of heat emitting from his palm, fluctuating in intensity together with his ki. All her circuits were screaming danger at her, but just like the urge to try and kill the Saiyans, she merely ignored it. "Why are you threatening me? Nothing in your psychological profile hints at aggressive tendencies."

That strangely seemed to make the boy even more livid; he was practically snarling into her face. "Psychological profile? I'll show you what psychological profile!"

With those words, he shot a brief, concentrated ki-blast right into her chest. Her heat-sensors went into overload, her mechanical brain flashing damage-reports, and the few human nerves she had retained were screaming in agony as she silently doubled over while the Saiyan was laughing maniacally. Her self-defense programs triggered, she slammed her fist into his face, but it had no more effect than making him smile even more. "See, can't even hit me anymore. Now, what am I going to do with you …"

The light gleaming in his eyes forced the few human instincts she still possessed to recoil in the closest thing she knew to fright, and she quickly put some distance between her and the boy. He apparently didn't want to let her go; he came after her so fast that she barely had time to blink, and once again, she found herself doubled over in agony, this time because of his fist buried in her stomach. Despite his heavily fluctuating ki, the next barrage of shots didn't miss either, her programs simply too slow to decide on a conclusive way of action.

Flight was out of the question because he was faster than her and it could trigger some hunting instincts within him. Fight was not advisable, either, because it could trigger him to release all of his strength against her, which she wouldn't be able to survive. And her basic self-defense was not enough to stand up to a fighter of his caliber. Since the Saiyan didn't give her enough time to regroup and decide on a strategy, her body was getting damaged more and more.

Finally, one of her reflexive retaliations got through, and to her surprise, the boy's blond hair immediately turned black as he slumped over in unconsciousness. Reviewing the past few seconds she came to the conclusion that she had hit him just as his ki was at an especially low point, knocking him out immediately.

Ignoring the damage inflicted on her body, she stared down at the life-less Saiya-jin, somewhat annoyed that she had been forced to move from the spot she had lain in for more than 50 days. It probably would be best if she wasn't there anymore when the boy woke up, not knowing what state of mind he'd be in. If he was still caught in that strange state, there were no predictions of how he'd react, and it would be unadvisable to allow him to do even more damage to her body.

Her self-preservation programs finally made her leave. She had been created to be as strong as a Super-Saiyajin, but against him, all her strength had been naught. Sure, he had caught her by surprise, which let the fight turn in his favor from the beginning, but the boy had a lot more power than what he had just shown. Even in a fair fight, the outcome would have been certain. How else could he have defeated Cell when Cell had absorbed her without problems?

Alternately limping and hovering to a near-by forest, she took care to not leave a trail behind that could be followed. Together with the fact that she was invisible to his ki-senses, she would be safe hiding in the thick brushes. Always keeping track of the Halfling's state of energy, she finally let herself slump against the rough bark of an old birch. 46.27 minutes later, the boy regained consciousness, his ki apparently under control once again. He stayed around for a few minutes, but he didn't start looking for her.

When she finally felt the Saiyan boy leave the field, she waited until he had been out of her sensor range for nearly an hour. Then, she returned to her resting place, lying down onto the grass once again, a little bit away from the craters their earlier fight had produced. She would not let the boy chase her away from the spot she had chosen to stay in until she had found some purpose for her life.

--

The next day, the Saiyan returned to the meadow, and her self-preservation immediately rekindled its furious battle with her orders. However, she was unable to detect any fluctuating anger, so she let him come closer.

He touched down a long ways away, lowering his ki so much that he was not much stronger than a regular human. If they were surrounded by a crowd, she would have lost him almost immediately. Did he think he could evade detection through that? No, apparently he knew that she had sensed him, because he came in a straight line towards her, arms and hands clearly in sight, head lowered. A sign that he was unarmed, an unnecessary gesture as he could kill with his bare hands.

He spoke clearly, but softly, stopping when he was just out of striking range. "I came to apologize for what I did yesterday. I know an apology is not enough, so feel free to take any revenge you like, I won't stop you."

She looked up at the boy standing in front of her, his lips drawn into a taut line. If she struck at him now, she would kill him without a doubt, so low was his ki. Her programs screamed and screeched at her 'Now's the opportunity! DO IT!', but she ignored them as usual. Instead, she asked for information to add to his behavioral matrix. "Why did you attack me?"

The halfling's face twisted into a grimace, an expression she recognized as signaling pain and confusion. "I … I don't know … it was just … when you didn't want to talk to me, I suddenly became so … angry, I guess … furious that you were ignoring me .."

She studied the boy closer. He was pale, dark circles beneath his eyes. He had probably not slept well during the night, if he had at all. "Your behavior yesterday was quite contrary to all the data I have gathered on you."

She let that sentence hang in the air, judging his response. Closing his eyes, he nodded slowly, projecting all the signs of nervousness paired with ... fear? Before he could answer though, she continued. "And your energy was fluctuating strongly all the time you were nearing this place."

This drew a frown from the Saiyan. "My energy was fluctuating? But I didn't … do …"

His voice trailed off before he had finished the sentence. She wondered why he had been so surprised; somebody as experienced in using energy must either have been aware of his own energy level or have caused it himself. The possibility that such a practiced energy-user had lost control over his ki was negligibly slim, as none of the usual causes except for maybe excess emotions applied here.

Shocked, he looked at her. "That's the same Piccolo said. But how can that be? That's never happened to me before."

Still, she was looking at him, calculating all the possibilities. "How old are you?"

The Saiyan boy stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "How old I am? But what's that got to do with it? But I should be … well, I was nine when … we were about 8 months in there … I think I am ten or eleven, not quite sure what. Why?"

Her calculations sped up quite a bit. "When did those incidents start?"

Scrunching his forehead, the boy was trying to think back. "I think … two or three weeks … But perhaps … perhaps I didn't recognize it earlier …" Suddenly, he turned pale. "Ah, I think, the first time was when fighting against Cell …"

She nodded, her chips having found an explanation with 83.59 percent probability. "Have you been growing lately?"

Now he was ogling her as if she had turned insane. "A little bit. Why?"

"Humans go through puberty at your age. This could be your version of it."

"But – I'm not human…"

"Partially, you are."

Gohan stared at the cybernetic woman in shock. Was puberty the reason for all the strange things happening to him? He had read about it before in his studies on human physiology; during the time the body grew to maturity, hormones swamped the blood stream, making emotions unstable while the body was changing.

Slowly, it became crystal clear. Unpredictable mood swings would affect his ki, too, and he couldn't control them. But one question remained. "Then why am I attacking people who I talked to just the day before?"

The android shrugged her shoulders. "You are only half human. The Saiyan half could be responsible for some side effects."

Mulling over what she had said, Gohan felt for the first time hope welling up in his heart. Maybe nothing was wrong with him, perhaps it was normal for demi-Saiyans. Considerably relieved, he thanked her profusely. "I'm going to ask Vegeta about it, perhaps he can tell me more about it. Thank you very much!"

Hurrying off into the sky, he shot towards Capsule Corporation, locating Vegeta's ki in the Gravity Room almost immediately. At the moment, he was so excited that he didn't care whether Vegeta was happy about his unannounced visitor not.

Urgently he banged at the door, the artificial gravity shutting off much too slowly for his taste. As soon as the door opened he stormed in to confront a disgruntled Vegeta.

"Hey, Vegeta, do Saiyans go through something like puberty?"

Vegeta just stared at him angrily. "I assume puberty is some weak human disease? Of course we Saiyans don't."

Looking at Vegeta, Gohan quickly realized what the problem was. But launching into a detailed explanation what puberty was would not make Vegeta very happy, so he decided to go for a frontal attack. "So you say that Saiyans don't mature after birth, and that they are already born with their reproduction abilities fully develloped?"

Vegeta growled, ignoring the mocking words in a way he would never have ignored an explanation. "Why do you want to know, brat? It's not like your messed-up behavior was the one of a Saiya-jin during khelar."

Gohan beamed, glad that they were finally on the same wavelength. "So there is Saiyan puberty! Please tell me more about it!"

Disgruntled, Vegeta started to lecture Gohan on Saiyan physiology, but Gohan knew that the reluctance was only a façade. Vegeta was actually happy that he could talk about the race he was prince of, although he would sooner die than admit it.

"When Saiyan children turn 13, their bodies prepare for the next full moon during which they are going to look for a mate. Every full moon, the mating drive returns, a time when all Saiyans return to Vegeta-sei. Is that enough for you?"

Mulling over what he had just been told, Gohan nodded. "I assume that the mating drive is coupled with increased hostility towards other males and that women are sought out?"

"Yes. Now leave, you're wasting my training time!"

Thoughtfully Gohan left the gravity room, not seeing the almost concerned look Vegeta shot after him. What did that mean for him? Mating habit every full moon … Now that the moon was back again, it would mean that every month … But … No, that stuff came up more often than once a month. And he was hostile towards everyone, not just males. Perhaps that was part of his human heritage, the uncontrolled hormones swamping his blood-stream.

Turning towards the main dome, he thoughtfully wandered into Bulma's lab. Perhaps she could help him.

Finding the genius bent over some new invention once again, he told her about his problems and what he thought the reason was. She immediately agreed to do a thorough check of his blood, but she cautioned him that recognizing the cause would be much easier than curing him. Nonetheless, she would try and do her best.

A few blood-samples later (with a lot of cursing, too, because the needle just didn't want to go through tough Saiyan epidermis), he was on his way home again, something like hope in his heart. Bulma was going to run every test she could think of, and then he'd surely know what was wrong with him – and how to fix it.

--


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Every day, Gohan had visited Bulma, asking her whether she knew what was wrong with him. The first few times, she had gently told him off, but then, she had become increasingly irritated with the frequent visits of the demi-Saiyan. The last time he had visited her, she had yelled at him that it didn't help any if he was constantly interrupting her work, and that she'd tell him when she was done, not any minute sooner. Hoping for the best, he had left. But he hadn't gotten any news yet, and he was already sitting on hot coals, feeling his urges become more and more pronounced.

After his last visit to Bulma, he had stayed at home, studying most of the time. It had taken almost a week until his anger had recovered enough to make him hurt somebody again. Luckily he had been able to curb his energy long enough to flee from the house so that his Mom would be out of danger, but how he had ended up at the place Juu-hachi-gou was in, he didn't know. She had been fully recovered, something that had made him even more angry. He had attacked her once again until she had managed to knock him out, but he knew that he had hurt her badly. She'd survive, but only because she had been constructed to fight super Saiyans.

No, he couldn't go on like that. It was pure luck that he had vented his aggressions on the only woman on this planet who was strong enough to not cave in immediately under his assault. It bordered on a miracle that he had only gone after her so far, that he hadn't killed anybody yet, and he couldn't always rely on chance. No, he had to take matters into his own hands, making sure that he didn't pose a danger to anybody else.

Leaving a short explanatory letter on the kitchen table at home, he sadly looked around one last time. Until he was in full control again, he wouldn't come here again; it simply was too dangerous. Spending some time in the wilderness, far away from any humans, far away from the android woman, was the only thing he could do now that he couldn't trust himself in their company anymore.

Sighing heavily, he ghosted into his room and grabbed all the school books he could get his hands on. No sense in wasting the time completely. At least he could study to make his Mom happy even if he wasn't there.

Stretching his senses, he felt her come closer to the house together with Goten on her back. He knew that she always did the laundry in the mornings, so he had waited until she had left. But now he would have to hurry before she saw him. Shooting out of the window, he quickly gained altitude until he was sure that he couldn't be seen from the ground by a normal human, and then he shot off with a last glance towards the tiny figure on the ground moving towards the dot that represented his home.

--

Lying on her back, the android woman leveled her sensors at the vast expanses of blue sky, her circuits pondering the problem of the small Saiyan Halfling. One day, he would attack her without any reason, and then, the next day, he would come to apologize, and then he would stay away until the next time he attacked. It was almost like a pattern she couldn't quite grasp, but she was sure that with a little bit more data, her logic chips would be able to extrapolate some regularities.

And taking in account the personality of the boy, she was going to get the necessary data. With a probability of more than 90 percent she had calculated that the half-Saiyan would return again until either she was damaged beyond repair or the boy got rid of whatever disturbed his mental stability. It seemed to be a Saiyan trait to focus on strong women, and at the moment, she was the strongest female being on the planet, even if she wasn't completely human. The boy's human side was also drawn to her because she was the only one who could withstand him without being pulverized immediately, so she was the safest possibility for him to let out his aggressions. It was only logical that he would return to her.

But that did not mean that it was desirable that he returned.

His attacks had become stronger every time, and slowly, she had come to fear them; not so much because of his violence towards her, but because of the healing afterwards that left bigger and bigger parts of her flesh and blood.

Deep inside her body, nanobots had always repaired her cellular structure, the only way of healing she had known since the day she had woken up in Doctor Gero's lab, next to her brother. Strangely though, the nanobots replaced any damaged tissue with more organic materials than had originally been there, even the circuits and metal-infused bone splinters were slowly being turned into nerves and bones again.

She didn't know whether the organic parts were weaker than the rest, but judging from the damage that the boy inflicted upon her in more or less regular intervals, it was not. Strange that simple flesh was as strong as an unfeeling body made from metal and wire. Perhaps that was the secret of the Saiyans – flesh was just as durable as metal.

Still, it was unsettling watching as more and more of her body became living, breathing tissue, and together with the flesh came the disturbing feelings that were pulsing through her systems more and more often. Did the Halfling feel that insecure, too? Did he feel the same way when he was sane again after a mental attack?

What about the small change she felt in her mind, reflexes and emotions that she had never experienced before, suddenly emerging at unpredictable times, nearly tearing her brain apart? Or was the concept of her own mind only a figment of her imagination?

But slowly, one serious problem was turning up. The metal in her body had allowed her to store any kind of energy, no matter if it consisted of her own ki energy, somebody else's ki energy, or electricity. Now that organic tissue was starting to replace the metal, it was only a matter of time until she lost that ability. Her fighting style though relied heavily on this skill, taking her opponent's energy to defeat them. In case of the demi-Saiyan, it was the only thing that had kept her alive so far.

But lately, the foreign energy she absorbed was getting harder and harder to move around in her body, with only a strong assertion of will-power allowing her to absorb it at all. How should she deal with the external energy that her increasingly fleshen body couldn't store anymore in contrast to the metal she had been before?

The background surveillance programs installed in her mind were once again doing a checkup of all high ki-forces, something that was so deeply ingrained in her circuits that she didn't have to think about it. This time though she was surprised to find the two strongest kis on the planet right next to each other, and they were not fighting against each other.

Her memory bank provided some data on the second ki. It belonged to the prince of the Saiya-jin who was mated to a scientist called Bulma Briefs. And the boy had mentioned something about asking Bulma for help, so she deduced that the boy had obtained new information about his condition.

It did not take long until her senses notified her of the Halfling heading into her direction. Having already predicted that the boy would inform her of anything he had learned, she was not surprised to see him drop out of the sky. She was looking up into the face of the demi-saiyan who wore an expression that was intended to convey sadness and defeat. Apparently, the visit to the genius Bulma Briefs had not brought the desired results. Waiting for him to tell her, she watched as he flopped tiredly down onto the grass. A strange silence spread between them, vibrating in the sunshine. Finally, the boy told her the results.

"Bulma said she can't help me. It's linked to my hormones, something about my Saiyan hormones clashing with my human ones. The only possibility would be to reduce the amount in my blood stream with some inhibitors, but she has no idea in which way hormone inhibitors would affect me, and anyways, she could only make inhibitors for my human side. But there is no knowing what that would do to my Saiyan half, because in all samples she had taken from me, the tests had turned out negative. Whatever worked for my human side was neutralized by my Saiyan side, and everything that was strong enough to subdue my Saiyan side killed my human side. She told me that it would be faster to wait for the Dragon than to hope that she can find a cure."

The dragon. Her data bank provided an image of a huge snake-like reptile which had emerged from seven glass balls on top of that floating platform. Her circuits had almost been blown to bits by the realization that you could ask the dragon for anything, and it granted the wish - as long as it was in its power to do so. That was a good idea she hadn't considered before.

"So why are you not calling the dragon?"

The boy's face contorted in displeasure. "It's been only half a year since the last time. They won't be active for another few months."

That was indeed a problem.

Gohan studiously didn't look at the android woman, not wanting to see her reaction. He was ashamed of his lack of control that had led him to hurt her again and again, but when the anger overcame him, his body acted on its own. It was as if suddenly, he couldn't think of anything else than hitting-grinding-tearing something, pounding it over and over again until it was reduced to dust. The wasteland he had been living in for the past 6 weeks resembled a huge battleground, craters littering the earth like pockmarks, huge ravines crossing the plains, and mountains reduced to ash and dust.

That in itself wouldn't be so bad; hell, the place the Cell-games had been held in didn't look much better. But then, there were times when some feelings that made him giddy combined with his anger. The giddy feeling made him look for other people; it was as if he would suffocate from loneliness, longing for something only talking to other sentient beings could provide. And then, when he had found somebody, the anger would burst out, directed against everybody in front of him.

He was ashamed that he couldn't control himself better; he shouldn't have hurt her. But when that giddy feeling took over, he always went looking for Juu-hachi-gou for reasons he couldn't quite understand. A need to be near her usually took over, and in his slightly foggy state, he forgot every reason why he shouldn't go to her. And then, when he saw her, the anger welled up, completely out of control, turning his vision dark red, making his limbs tremble with hatred.

She interrupted his thinking. "I am reasonably certain that neither of us likes the situation, but blaming yourself will not have any positive effects at all. Would sedatives or ki-inhibitors help?"

Grimmacing, Gohan shook his head. "Bulma said that the sedatives have the same problems as hormone inhibitors: whatever works on my human side is neutralized by my Saiyan one, and the ones that work on my Saiyan side damage my human one. But perhaps, I can try ki-inhibitors. That might work."

Although he didn't have much hope for that. Even ki-inhibitors had limits as to how much power they could absorb, and his full power in SSJ 1 was almost enough to overload them. But perhaps, it would work with his spiking ki. He would have to try.

"Thank you for the tip. I'll go and ask Bulma."

She nodded, not averting her gaze from him. Taking off, he once again headed for Capsule Corporation with the hope of solving his problems. But he had a feeling that Bulma wouldn't be able to help him this time. Well, there always was the dragon in six months…

--

The Saiyan boy was dropping by again; she had not expected him again for the next few days. Looking at his nearing form, her circuits tried to tell her to run away, fleeing in self-preservation, but she stayed where she was. Why, she even didn't know herself. Probably because she could.

The boy was angry again, very much so. His ki was sparking and rising, with the usual vibrations, but something darker underneath. The ki-inhibitors apparently were active judging from the blue glow around his wrists and ankles, and his energy was almost nothing compared to his real potential, but still too strong for her. This time though, his energy wasn't what worried her. She sensed something different with him, something she hadn't sensed before.

Before she could get a hold of what it was, he was already upon her, pinning her to the ground in fury. His hateful words hissed at her, blaming her in his incoherency for the heritage his parents had left him.

"This anger, that's all your fault! Why did you have to curse me with that? Wasn't it enough that you killed my father? I am going to make you pay for that!"

She was quite aware of the fist descending towards her face, but unable to move away, his ki pressing her hard against the ground despite the ki-inhibitors. Looking up at him, she saw an expression of pure malice before the knuckles exploded against her jaw with so much force that her vision receptors went blank for a while. When she could perceive his form again, his formerly black hair had flared into a blinding white-gold, evidence of his increasingly uncontrolled state. A sudden heave, and she was slammed against the grass, face down this time.

"You don't have to say anything to that?" he demanded.

Knowing that her words wouldn't reach him in this uncontrolled state, she merely kept quiet, her logic chips frantically calculating the chance of escaping the Saiyan boy somehow. Unsurprised she read the result, that with 94.3 percent probability she would end up damaged beyond repair, so she didn't even try to get away. He would do damage to her, but not permanent. And afterwards, when he had exorcised whatever had triggered his emotions, he would be normal again until the next time.

Tonight was full moon though, so his attacks would be especially furious. Already, he had belted her once more across the face, and his legs that he used to immobilize her own were tight as a vice, making her bones creak despite the extra-strong metal alloy supporting them. Blows started raining on her back before a hand fisted into her hair, drawing it back sharply to overstretch her neck. His glowing eyes shot murder at her as he grit his teeth.

"I will show you what I do with people who think they can hurt me…"

Even in his uncontrolled state, he know how to inflict lots of pain, the damage following only a step behind, but still not impossible to heal. Most of her circuitry was carefully shut off; she didn't need the feedback from her nervous system to know she was hurt. And it didn't matter to the Saiyan how responsive his subject of anger was.

In an ingrained self-preservative action, she absorbed some of the energy he transmitted with each punch, reducing the force just by that little margin that had kept her alive so far. After seemingly forever, the blows abated slowly,

The wires in her body jerked as she gradually took in more and more energy. Because her energy banks had been partially destroyed the last time, they had regenerated as flesh and blood, and her flesh somehow couldn't store foreign energy for an extended period of time. She'd have to find a way to release it, soon.

From the sizzling in the air, she could feel that the boy was powering up some big energy attack, and she used part of the energy she had siphoned from him to make her body stronger, tougher, and more resilient.

Nonetheless, the unbelievable power spreading from his fingers nearly overwhelmed her, leaving a deep crater in the landscape. Her arms crossed in front of her face, she had taken the brunt of the blast with her forearms, leaving them blistered, red, wet. But now, he was coming closer again and if she could find the right moment, she would be able to subdue him – before he killed her.

Just when she was ready to give him a strong blow to the head, he suddenly pounced onto her, pinning her arms to the floor with only one hand. As powered up as he currently was, it posed no problem for him to hold her immobile, and all her tries to escape were prevented by his deceptively small body leaning across her. Looking at his face to get any hint of what he was planning to do, she noted the lips that were slightly curled upwards in a grin that consisted solely of teeth.

Suddenly, he flexed his hips against her, and the heartbeat in his throat accelerated while his pupils dilated a fraction wider. Her acute sense of sell told her that some hormones had been released within him, but she couldn't tell which exactly. He ground his hips against her again, and this time, she caught the hints of arousal in his eyes right before he bit her neck hard.

Setting up a more or less regular pace, he kept writhing against her, the fingers around her crossed wrists tightening more and more until she felt her bones give way. He kept biting her neck, drawing blood from the feel of it, his panting getting harsher as he was writhing more frantically against her, his erect penis grinding into her abdomen.

As a cyborg, she had no such needs of her own, but Dr. Gero had supplied her with enough data to identify what the Saiyan boy currently was doing. Shoving his erect sex at her was a sign for the boy's intention to copulate with her, something that was also called 'having sex' by humans. Why though would the Saiyan Halfling want to 'have sex' with her? In the definition, it said that 'having sex' was a way of procreation, the male sperm fertilizing the female ovum, ensuring that genes mixed to create diversity in the population. Didn't the boy know that she was incapable of procreation?

However, the boy didn't seem to be interested in making sure his seed was spread into her as he kept grinding his still clothed sex against her in an increasingly vicious manner. The bones in her wrists were by now broken in several places, the damage reports arriving in her main circuits together with the information that she had been bitten once again, and that this time, the teeth had not released the flesh caught between them. A growling sound reached her ears, the low vibration coming from the Saiyan Halfling going rigid on top of her.

As he seemed distracted for the moment, she used the chance and took some of the energy she had absorbed from him to fire a concentrated ki-blast straight at the place where his tail used to be, a spot that was guaranteed to knock him out when the right amount of force was applied.

Being caught in the rush of endorphins that the ejaculation of his seed caused, his guard fortunately had been lowered, so he fell unconscious just like she had planned. Letting the boy's limp body tumble to the side, she sat up and brought her arms in front of her, examining the wrists that were bent at an unnatural angle. Without the ki-inhibitors, her bones probably would have been ground to dust. As it was, they were only broken badly in five different places. Judging by previous experience, the boy would be unconscious for more than thirty minutes, enough for her to initiate a few healing sub-routines before leaving.

A quick twist later, her two wrists were considerably closer to their natural position. For some time, she held absolutely still as she accessed the program that controlled the nano-bots responsible for her healing. Urging them to fix the damage to her wrists first, she felt the bones mending in record speed, and within minutes, her hands were partially mobile again.

By that time, another problem made itself known.

All the time, the static within her body had been charging from one cell to the other, not finding an outlet. And her body had finally reached the point where the organic to metallic ratio didn't allow for safe storage of the foreign energy anymore.

That meant that the ki she had absorbed from the demi-Saiyan was wreaking havoc within her body, and she had to get rid of it before it damaged her further. Shuddering from electric convulsions, she jerkily flew a few miles away until the rampant power in her body had built up enough to paralyze her circuits. Strangely enough, it was her flesh that hurt, but it was the only thing that functioned, too. All metallic parts of her body were resonating with the static buildup, making it impossible for any voluntary electric currents to pass through.

Just when she thought she would collapse from overload, a blue arc of lightening burst forth from her fingers and impacted into the ground, leaving black scorch marks both on her hand and on the vegetation. The foreign ki within her body was suddenly diminished so much that she regained control over her limbs, and the remaining ki could safely be converted into energy she could use, the rest stored into those few energy banks that hadn't been destroyed yet.

Panting, she knelt on the ground, her chips whirring frantically with calculations and extrapolations.

Every time that more parts of her body were replaced by flesh and blood, she would be able to store less energy. If the fit she'd just had was any indication, the additional energy would search for an outlet until her body could handle the rest. She estimated that at the moment, she was still metal to approximately 63.5 percent of her body volume, whereas in the beginning, 95.8573 percent had consisted of inorganic material. With further violence against her, the flesh to metal ratio would swing even more in favor of organic materials, and her capacity of storing and converting foreign energy would be reduced even more. It was only a matter of time until she wouldn't be able to defend herself against the Saiyan boy anymore because at the moment, she was relying heavily on turning his own energy against him. If she had to rely solely on her own strength, she would have no chance against him.

But she had deduced that his intentions were not focused on killing her because of the fact that she was still alive. If he had wanted her dead, she would already have met her demise. No, part of his instincts were telling him to use her as a means of procreation, so at the moment, she was safe. The only question was if she would survive the eighteen weeks until the dragon could be called again.

--


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**

After more than 3 years of hiatus, I finally could bring myself to finish this story. I edited the earlier chapters quite thoroughly, so you might want to reread them. Since I didn't really have a lot of inspiration on how to continue, this ending might seem a bit abrupt, but at least it's finished (thank Estarc for that - that review gave me the motivation to finally complete this story)

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Almost hyperventilating, Gohan huddled into a corner of the cave he had withdrawn to. He shivered from the cold water of the river he had just jumped into in a desperate attempt to both clean himself of his deeds and to wake up from this nightmare. What had he just done? And how much of that had been reality? He remembered enough to know what he had wanted to do, but his mind had been too muddled to distinguish thought from action.

Had he really…?

No, he didn't want to think of that. It was safer to let himself be distracted by Icarus, the small pet dragon who had followed him out into these wastelands. Gohan didn't know how the little dragon had found him; he had suppressed his ki down to almost nothing as to be untraceable. But the dragon was currently nuzzling him, whining in despair. Gohan still didn't move.

What else could he do? He had thought isolating himself would make the others safer, but he hadn't counted on his anger rearing its head even without provocation. And since he was capable of reaching any spot on the planet within half an hour…

No, isolation wasn't the way to go, and there were still more than four months left until the dragon could be called. But if he didn't isolate himself, he was a danger to his immediate surroundings, and if it hadn't been a dream…

He shuddered. He didn't even know whether his own mother would be safe from his… advances.

"Brat! Get out here! NOW!"

Vegeta? What was Vegeta doing here? How had Vegeta found him? Gohan was sure he had suppressed his energy so far that nobody could sense him. So, if he kept quiet, maybe the Saiyan prince would leave.

"Or should I blast this miserable heap of rocks?"

Sighing, Gohan stopped suppressing his energy to show he had heard Vegeta. The prince could be as stubborn as anyone once he had set his mind to something, and Gohan was sure that Vegeta had no scruples in blasting new craters into the landscape.

Pushing Icarus away to get up, he slowly moved to the entrance of the cave. It was barely tall enough to allow him to stand, probably the reason why Vegeta hadn't come inside – crawling was undignified.

Blinking, he stared at the heavily muscled silhouette surrounded by bright sunlight. "What is it, Vegeta?"

"Fight with me."

Gohan backed away, shaking his head. "Vegeta, I can't, there's…"

"Gallick Gun."

Gohan barely dodged the energy blast, which completely leveled the cave. With a screech Icarus fled into the skies, away from the ensuing danger. Vegeta didn't let up in his assault, immediately charging in to get close and personal. Frantically blocking and dodging, Gohan tried to talk sense into Vegeta.

"Stop it, Vegeta!" He blocked a knee that would have hit him straight in his solar plexus. "I can't –", an energy charged fist to his chin, "– control myself – ", a barrage of kicks towards his knees, hips, and midriff, "– at the moment!"

"Then don't!" the Saiyan roared, firing several bullet-sized energy balls at the same time. "Fight like a Saiyan! Don't fight to live. Live to fight!"

Vegeta's energy spiked higher and higher, and Gohan reluctantly had to respond to avoid being utterly flattened by Vegeta's onslaught. What was Vegeta doing? Was he intentionally provoking Gohan to lose control? Did he care for nothing but fighting?

With the ki-inhibitors on, Gohan actually had to strain a lot to match the Saiyan prince; for the moment, they were almost equal in power and Vegeta had countless years of battle experience over him. They had long ago taken to the skies, two burning stars colliding viciously with each other.

One moment of inattention, and Gohan found himself slamming through boulders the size of houses, seeing stars from the vicious uppercut to his chin. Vegeta hovered over him, a manic grin on his face. "What's the matter, brat? Tired already? Fight me! Fight!!"

Growling deep in his throat, Gohan found himself rising to the challenge. Gathering ki into his hands, he forcefully threw it upwards. "Masenko-ha!"

Twin beams of energy exploded from his hands, homing in on Vegeta in a chaotic pattern. The Saiyan's feral smirk was the only warning he got before he had to duck beneath a vicious drop-kick from behind. They continued in close combat, Gohan always trying to maneuver Vegeta into the path of the two curving and writhing Masenko beams. It didn't take much concentration to keep the two beams steady and homing for Vegeta, but even that bit of a distraction was too much to keep up with Vegeta's merciless assault. A back-hand to his face almost made him collide with his own energy attack, and he barely avoided Vegeta's following ki beam.

To his horror, he realized a moment later that the beam hadn't been aimed at him but at the two Masenkos, exploding them right next to Gohan's body. Using his ki to absorb most of the damage, Gohan was nonetheless blown away for several miles until another mountain stopped his nearly horizontal flight path.

When he dug himself out of the rubble by flaring his energy, Vegeta already was there, hovering above him with his damnable smirk. "Better, brat." Gohan launched an energy blast, which Vegeta effortlessly swatted away. "But not good enough."

Gohan bared his teeth, shooting up into the sky to wipe the grin off Vegeta's face. Instead he barely defended himself from countless series of punches and kicks, never getting enough of a breather to go on the attack himself.

Five hours later, both of them were breathing hard, littered with bruises, small cuts and burns. But they were still grinning at each other with their teeth bared, neither wanting to give up. Vegeta, looking quite a bit better than Gohan, finally relaxed out of his ready stance. "Enough for today. Tomorrow, I expect you to be in the Gravity Room at sunrise."

With those parting words Vegeta took off and Gohan tracked his blazing form, first with his eyes and then his ki sense until the Saiyan was out of range. Only then did he relax, slowly stretching burning muscles and limbs.

What had that been all about? Vegeta had deliberately goaded him into a fight, but somehow without making him angry. Gohan had rather _enjoyed_ the fight, enjoyed the burning of his blood in his veins, the breath in his lungs. And it had been a clean enjoyment, not one of hatred like with Cell.

To his surprise, he felt _good_, no indication of the anger that had been gnawing at his insides.

Had Vegeta known?

Shaking his head, he flew to the next best stream. He could think about that later. Now, it was time for dinner and a bath.

* * *

Gohan sighed. With Vegeta's help, his anger had become manageable most of the time, but apparently he still had episodes he couldn't control – and he felt like he was losing his humanity bit by bit. And the Dragon was still more than three months away.

Who would have thought that sparring with the Saiyan prince to and beyond the point of exhaustion every day worked that well? And who would have thought that Vegeta knew how to rouse his fighting spirit without the anger that could become so dangerous?

For the past three weeks, he hadn't left the Gravity Room. He had slept there and he had eaten there, he hadn't had any contact with living people except for Vegeta, and there hadn't been any incident. He had almost thought he was in control of his anger. But then, yesterday, his mother had come over to Capsule Corporation and demanded that he came home and helped her with the housework.

He didn't know what exactly it had been, but all of a sudden, everything about his mother had annoyed him, from her loud voice to her demanding tone and her unwavering expectation that he obeyed her. He had snapped all of a sudden, Vegeta barely being fast enough to bat him away from attacking his mother. In his anger, he had thrown a massive energy blast at Capsule Corporation, once again blocked by Vegeta, and then flown away at top speed.

Somehow, he had once again found himself in the field where he had first met #18, with blood on his knuckles and between his teeth, and only nightmare-like fragments of what had happened. The cyborg had been nowhere in sight, but somehow he knew that the blood belonged to her. There had been a few new craters in the pockmark-riddled landscape, and a strange smell in the air that he hadn't been able to identify.

A bit of search had revealed the origins of the smell. The almost dry spot on the front of his pants had quickly cleared away all doubts. He had read enough biology books to know what had happened. And Vegeta mentioning a mating drive together with puberty had almost prepared him for such a possibility. Almost.

He just hoped that she had gotten away in one piece.

Why in the world was he so focused on the android? Didn't his instincts know that androids were infertile? And why the heck wasn't he more disturbed by it? Three weeks ago, he had been almost catatonic after his assault on the woman, but now? Yes, he regretted it, and yes, he would do anything in his power to avoid a repeat experience, but otherwise? With her lack of ki, she could have hidden anywhere, so it partially was her own fault for returning to that field again and again. And wasn't venting against her, who was able to survive, better than killing weaker humans?

The most scary thing, Gohan found, was that he didn't even find such thoughts alarming anymore.

* * *

Only seven weeks left until the Dragon could be called. That meant she only had to survive two or three more incidents.

That, she could manage. Hopefully.

By now, her metal-to-flesh ratio had dropped below forty percent, gradually reaching critical levels in regards to energy absorption. But she was learning slowly, training herself to dissipate energy in other ways than absorption. It wasn't enough yet to defend herself from the boy, but every bit helped.

She was looking down at the small, unconscious halfling dropped on the ground to her feet. Every time he came to her, he smelled wilder, more uncontrolled. And he got progressively more vicious in his assaults.

She didn't delude herself with fantasies that she was stronger than the demi-Saiyan. Her circuits didn't allow for that. No, it had been pure luck hat the Saiyan's fluctuating ki had fallen to a very low level at the precise moment she had struck him. But soon enough, his heavily fluctuating ki would regenerate and make him unpredictable once again, a danger to her. At least he seemed to be able to suppress it with the help of the Saiyan prince for up to four weeks afterwards, before something else set him off.

And, with the organic percentage in her body growing, she needed the time. It took the nano-bots almost twice as much time to repair organic tissue than replace inorganic parts with organic ones. She had no idea why, but it slowed her recovery rate immensely.

To be honest, she also had no idea why she stayed at all. All logic demanded that she fled, but she returned to the meadow over and over again, and he inevitably found her there every time. Was it merely to spite her programming? Was it to show that she could go against her self-preservation circuits? Or was it to show that she could do things that defied logic? That she was human? That she could _become_ human?

When full moon was nearing, it was especially bad. Somehow his body was becoming increasingly attuned to the lunar cycles, losing even more of his mind than usual. Although he thankfully didn't transform into a were-ape in lack of a tail. At least something she could be grateful for; otherwise she surmised that she might not have survived those nights.

It was also helpful that she could still absorb some of his energy temporarily, taking the worst of his edge off before it came to the inevitable. Though later, when she was alone again, she would pay for it with severe shocks racing through her systems until the energy dissipated; and it had gotten steadily worse with her increasing organic percentage.

Already the first tingles started as an almost imperceptible humming of her remaining metal parts. Quickly, she left the meadow, not wanting the half-Saiyan to catch her in that moment of weakness. She wasn't sure what he would do when he saw her suffering from the merciless energy discharges that would pour from her every pore until she wasn't sure anymore whether it was her circuits or her flesh on fire. She would be unable to defend herself, and that was an inexcusable risk.

On her way to some unpopulated wasteland, she already felt first flashes jumping from finger to finger, trying to escape her metallic body. Clamping further down onto the searing energy, she barely held it in until she touched down. By then, her logic circuits were almost out of commission by the sparks flaring through her systems, and only her iron will held marginal control over fiery dragons dancing through her skin, keeping them from annihilating at least a good part of the countryside.

Time had lost all meaning for her while she fought to stay on top of the onslaught of energy that continuously fed bolts of lightening into heavily charged air, leaving blackened and charred patches of skin behind. Through a haze, she could feel some of her internal mechanisms failing, making her body sink to its knees. Then, gradually, the bolts were diminishing in strength and frequency, together with the weakening of her control. Now it was down to endurance. Which would fail first: her body, her will, or the energy still thrumming mercilessly against the barrier of her flesh?

A black veil spiked with red needles was creeping up into her vision, and she grit her teeth out of some reflex remaining from her human existence. It was a race against time, but she turned out victorious – barely though. Crumbling down into a boneless heap, she only had time to feel a vague impression of charred earth against her face before her body shut itself down to start on the healing,

* * *

They had spent more than four months in the Gravity Room now, fighting until they dropped, only to fight again as soon as they were awake. Vegeta was as cold and infuriating as ever, but somehow Gohan didn't mind anymore. He liked the feral flow of energy between the two of them, constantly battling for supremacy with his ki-inhibitors keeping them on equal footing. Nobody could fight him like Vegeta, not even Piccolo during the one visit the Namekian had made. After seeing what had happened to Piccolo, everybody else stayed away.

And so he fought Vegeta day in, day out, under increasingly heavy gravity. It was exhilarating, invigorating to fight an equal to the best of his abilities. He couldn't understand anymore how he had ever been able to live without constantly measuring his strength like that. Fighting had become his blood, and the one time he had allowed Bulma to take another sample, she had only confirmed this. His Saiyan side was constantly fighting his human side, down to a cellular level. She had mentioned something about this going to tear him apart over time, but he didn't care as long as he could just continue _fighting_.

Another bonus was that somehow he never got angry at the Saiyan prince; instead he was able to use his complete mind.

The one time he had asked Vegeta for the reason he never lost it with him, the prince had merely smirked. "You've got more Saiyan in you than you realize."

That had been it. Gohan didn't know whether that meant that Vegeta was deliberately pushing some Saiyan buttons in him, or that there was some genetic inability of Saiyans to mindlessly attack their royal family, or something completely different. To be honest – as long as it worked, it didn't really matter to his human part. And the Saiyan part didn't care at all, merely relishing in the fights and growing stronger every day.

There had only been four incidents during the whole time, five if he counted last night. Every time, the incidents had been preluded by either Vegeta being knocked unconscious by a lucky blow, or them blowing up the Gravity Room. In either case, that had meant interrupting their fight, and Gohan had grown angry.

After blowing off steam with C18, he had always returned to Capsule Corporation to continue their fighting marathon.

But last night had been different. He had woken up in the meadow as usual, but this time, he hadn't had a wet spot at the front of his pants. He had somehow managed to lose his pants entirely, and he had been smeared with blood down there. Not his blood.

And he hadn't been alone; C18 had been there, observing him from a brief distance. She had watched him, completely motionless, almost no sign of the damage he must have inflicted on her. The only thing that had changed about her was her scent.

He didn't know why he hadn't felt embarrassed or guilty beneath her unwavering stare. He had merely cocked his head to the side, commenting. "You smell human now. Fertile."

For several minutes, she hadn't responded. Then she had gotten up without her usual fluidity and limped away. She had briefly stopped to give a parting shot over her shoulder. "Tomorrow, the Dragon will wake. You won't remember what happened the last six months."

He had nodded, already guessing that there were a few people around who didn't like the way he had become. "Will you?"

She had paused, turning to look at him one last time. "I will be human." Then she had taken off.

Today, he was standing on Kami's lookout in front of Shen Long beneath the pitch black sky. Since he had sated his urges last night, it was very improbable that he would lose his mind so early again. That was the only reason he and Vegeta had been allowed to accompany them to the Dragon summoning. And, of course, because of the way they had worded the second wish.

All of the Z-warriors including Bulma and Chichi were there, giving him looks that varied from pitying to disgusted to fearful. Bulma had demanded her ki-inhibitors back, to make the second wish easier. It felt incredibly good to stretch his full ki, and the barely hidden surprise in Vegeta's eyes was even better. If the wishes didn't work, their next fight was going to be so much better…

"You have summoned me. Again, after only a year, if I might mention. What do you want now?" the dragon boomed.

Bulma stepped forward, being the one who had thought of the wording of the two wishes.

"Can you make it that everybody who is only part Saiyan, whether they are alive now or are in the timeline of Mirai Trunks or will be born in our future, will not suffer from a conflict between their two heritages?"

The dragon's eyes glowed for a moment, then it breathed a hot gust of air at them. It smelled of sulfur and brimstone. "Done. Your second wish?"

All of a sudden, Gohan felt clear-headed as if he had just woken up. But no, he was still standing in front of Shenron, and he still felt the bruises he had accumulated during those weeks of sparring with Vegeta. And he still felt the unaccustomed strain he had put his muscles through yesterday evening, in the meadow…

He started dry-heaving at the thought of what he had done. He had… she… and he had liked… her blood had been _tasty_ and…

A green hand on his shoulder sent soothing waves of warmth through his body. "Thanks, Dende," he croaked as soon as he could breathe again, almost gagging on the scent of bile and vomit.

He was dimly aware of Bulma wishing that everybody on the lookout forgot what happened the last six month, and instead got some neutral to good memories that explained the current state of events.

Gohan gratefully accepted a glass of water from Piccolo, sipping it slowly to get the taste of bile (and the memory of blood) out of his mouth. He didn't even hear the 'Done' from the dragon, neither did he see it dissolve into its seven Dragon Balls. He also didn't realize that, from one instant to the other, his perceived reason for retching had changed. He merely smiled and calmed down his mother.

"I'm fine, Mom, really! I just lost concentration and Piccolo got in a lucky shot to my stomach."

"Feh, weakling," Vegeta grumbled. "That's your fault for not training for the past year."

"Vegeta!" Bulma scolded. "There are people who like to do other things than training twenty hours a day!"

"Exactly," Chichi chimed in, her hands resolutely placed at her hips. "My baby will not grow up knowing nothing else than fighting! Come on, Gohan, we have spent enough time at this reunion. You have to go back to your books!"

"Yes, mom," he nodded, happy that he had gotten to see all his friends again. He hovered into the air until he could wrap his arm around his mother's waist. "Good bye, everyone! Bye, Mr. Piccolo! Bye, Bulma!"

The Briefs heir waved back. "Bye, Gohan, and don't be a stranger! I could always use your help in the labs!"

"Will do! And, Kuririn, remember what I told you about Eighteen! Since she hasn't killed you yet, that means she likes you!"

Gohan stayed just long enough to see the bald monk blush a bright red, then he took off, taking care not to drop his mother.

If he had turned around, he would have seen a thoughtful android hover just beneath the platform of Kami's lookout. She had never, at any point of time during the summoning, been _on_ the lookout.

* * *

**A/N:**

Yes, I know, Gohan got quite OOC there in the middle, but whatever. And please don't complain about the fighting scene - I know it sucks, but, well, I'm still practicing.

Sakiku


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